I started a new regimen almost exactly a month ago, and my face has exploded since then. Not all at once, but it definately has gotten much worse. Attached are pics from a month ago (day 1 of new regimen) and a pic from today (day 34 of regimen). Is this normal/good? Yes, my skin is peeling quite a bit and yes, it hurts!!!

The reginem I am on is 100mg minocycline morning/night, benzyol peroxide and clindamycin in the morning and benzyol peroxide and differin at night.

You should get in touch with your derm and tell him that your skin is getting worse. By now the antibiotic should have helped calm down the inflammation. You may need a different antibiotic. Mino never worked that well for me. Doxy worked much better. Your derm needs to know what is happening so he can adjust your meds. Hang in there. Your derm may need to experiment a bit to find out what works with your skin type. It can take awhile but be patient. This is the hardest part...being patient. But a key element of getting clear is communicating with your derm about everything!

I can't take doxy...I swim everyday for 3-4 hours outside...in the sun. I would come home evyerday withy blisters from the sun all over my body, even whyen i wore sunscreen. THis doesnt happen with minocycline.

Sorry to hear that. In my experience, harsher creams & cleaners break me out a ton. BP is touted as a quick fix but there is scientific proof that it causes more oil production because it is so drying. I only got cystic acne AFTER using an acne cleansing system formulated by a "respected" derm. Maybe try something more soothing for cleansing, like casor oill. In any case, Best wishes to you!

I'm not sure about the jojoba moisturizer. I've read it is supposed to be good for acne but I've found that natural oils break me out. They clog my pores and/or irritate my skin. My derm recommended DML lotion as being one of the most gentle and hypoallergenic ones, also noncomedogenic. It is not natural though and has some petrolatum in it but I talked with the company and the lotion was developed specifically for skin prone to acne and other inflammatory skin conditions. It is very light and designed to work specifically with BP and other treatments.

just apply differin in night and for the moisturzer i suggest u get urself a soothing one.....and apply sunscreen !

I agree with this. If you are really irritated, maybe skip the BP at night or wash off after 20 minutes and apply the differin only (with your doctor's approval of course).

It really does look like you are going through the awful purge stage where EVERYTHING surfaces, unfortunately you might be purging for a while, I purged for something like 6 weeks and didn't see real improvement until the end of the 3rd month, but hopefully you'll start see things clear up sooner.

Some people have good luck using the Cerave PM (the one without SPF) as their first line moisturizing (using their regular moisturizer on top if it doesn't moisturize enough) to help settle the redness, but it depends on whether you can handle niacinamide so you'd have to patch test.

You said you swim everyday for 3-4 hours outside in the sun, and you use Benzoyl Peroxide and other topicals on in the morning and at night? You can't expose your skin to the sun with Benzoyl Peroxide on!!! This is what's probably causing your skin to blister and turn beat red!!! BP tends to do this to your skin even if you're not in the sun, but the combination of BP and the SUN is damaging your skin to the fullest extent!

Well, I finally have started to see some major improvements towards the end of my third month. I stopped BP in the morning and only used the cleanser, clindamycin, and lotion (and sunscreen before I went into sun/to swim). Other than that, I continued to do what I normally do. The crazy part, is right before I started to see improvement, my face began to peel A LOT...every day I could litterally peel off another layer of skin. After about a week over half of the pimples are gone, and every day my face looks even better.

The problem is now, everywhere that I used to have a pimple there is a red mark. While the (raised) pimples are gone, my skin is completely smooth yet has red marks deep down. Maybe acne scars, I don't know. I guess i just need to give it a little more time...

You really should avoid the sun if you can help it, obviously you will need to go out at somepoint so wacking some suncream on would be fine... In moderation. I had this problem only last year using bp it prolonged the redness and made me sore even though i had sun protection on and avoided it like the plague at the suns hottest around 2pm in turn i strongly belive it also made my skin so sensitive i scarred very easily from using it...just be careful if ur spending that amount of time in the sun along with swimming it will irritate the crap outta ur skin. Glad you are seeing some improvements though. Keep us posted

Try fresh aloe Vera! It will help calm all the redness and irritation.

ha ha, you do like coming on this forums. . I'm glad you're telling people to try aloe vera fresh.

I'm not sure about the jojoba moisturizer. I've read it is supposed to be good for acne but I've found that natural oils break me out. They clog my pores and/or irritate my skin. My derm recommended DML lotion as being one of the most gentle and hypoallergenic ones, also noncomedogenic. It is not natural though and has some petrolatum in it but I talked with the company and the lotion was developed specifically for skin prone to acne and other inflammatory skin conditions. It is very light and designed to work specifically with BP and other treatments.

I love jojoba oil. It does prevent my skin from producing oil, hence, my skin is very smooth. It used to be oily. I don't use it as a moisturizer. I use it in the shower to wash my face. I used aloe vera as a moisturizer which is great.

Well, I finally have started to see some major improvements towards the end of my third month. I stopped BP in the morning and only used the cleanser, clindamycin, and lotion (and sunscreen before I went into sun/to swim). Other than that, I continued to do what I normally do. The crazy part, is right before I started to see improvement, my face began to peel A LOT...every day I could litterally peel off another layer of skin. After about a week over half of the pimples are gone, and every day my face looks even better.

The problem is now, everywhere that I used to have a pimple there is a red mark. While the (raised) pimples are gone, my skin is completely smooth yet has red marks deep down. Maybe acne scars, I don't know. I guess i just need to give it a little more time...

That's sure a good news! if your skin is smooth, then it is calmed. When mine went smooth, I stopped breaking out with ugly pimples. Red marks sucks!! But at least it is better than having active pimples which hurts. I don't mind red marks. I do mind scarring because it stays there for ever unless you do a laser treatment since treating natural won't work

Best way to make your skin smooth and clear eventually:

Plant-based diet is the best medicine for everything.. That's if you consume at least 80% raw, mainly from veggies and fruits.
Exercising: cardio is great for skin and lifting a bit.
Thinking positive and try not to stress or think about acne.

I am doing these and my skin is currently very smooth and clearing up!
I am a vegan raw 100%. I feel better, have more energy, saving animals a year, glow skin, I look younger, etc.

As many of the above posters have stated, you are using waaaaaay too much product on your skin. Are they all dermatologist prescribed? You may want to take BP at night out of the equation so that your face wont be as irritated, hence, red. I would call your derm and let him know about your irritation as if your skin is always irritated, it won't have a chance to heal. Do wear sunscreen as much as possible

Good Luck

BTW, aloe vera can help calm and soothe your skin so consider it. Patch test first to see if you have a reaction (on wrist or inner elbow for 24 hours)

It's a rocky road but like everything else in life, there is always a beginning and an end. Here's to finding my end.

God is good to me..........more than I deserve.

James 1:2-4

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.